Mr T profile: 'I don't chase the dollar' and a life away from the spotlight
""What did he study? “Philosophy and theology. A teacher in high school said, there’s no money in that, and I said: ‘Sir, that’s disrespectful. That’s insulting, because not everybody’s about money.’" he's one of us!
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò390the whole section of the write-up on Mr. T is pretty notable
jamelle370this is fascinating. the amateur criminologist in me zeroed in on this section. "they had no recourse." a great illustration of the fact that racist policing includes *refusing to police* and leaving the people impoverished neighborhoods to fend for themselves.
Nate O161Mr. T, forgive me, I did not know the degree of your willingness to stand in solidarity with others
Loukas Christodoulou137The unexamined life is not worth living - Socrates I pity the fool - Mr T
Kevin Reuning75I pity the fool that only values education in so far as it will earn you a specific wage.
Luigi de Guzman67The thing about Mr. T is that he seems like a genuinely thoughtful person. I particularly remember when he stopped wearing his gold chains after Hurricane Katrina because he felt it was wrong to flex so hard knowing there was so much suffering in the world
Matt Zoller Seitz120"I was born and raised in the ghetto, but the ghetto was not born and raised in me. We was poor financially, but we was rich spiritually."
Jerry Boyle44I met him when he was a Bouncer at a punk club here. It’s a measure of his character that first wave punks here remember him fondly.
Jay Jaffe35By the time I finished reading this profile, I pitied so many fools.
elias isquith25whoever gets to write the official biography of this man is going to be working with unbelievable material.
Aparna Nair16oh this is a wonderful read
AmeriKraut11i did not know he was still with us!
Yourqueerprof9This was a great read, even if you aren’t a Mr. T fan.
K. A. “Kîck Åß” Pillë8there is one and only choice to play him (and write and direct) in the biopic www.youtube.com/watch?v=50kr...
Robin James7The APA needs to get him and MC Hammer on a panel together
Stone Butch Blue Velvet6oh im stealing this one next time im too gay to show up at the appointed time we reconfirmed twice in text,
So why did Mr T take that name? Because white people would often call black men ‘Boy’, and so this way they’d have to accord him the respect of being a man. Extraordinary interview by @shattenstone.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Hetan Shah27‘The gold, he says, was his way of reclaiming history. Instead of wearing chains of steel, as his forefathers had, he’d wear chains of gold.’
tompoy.bsky.social4youtube.com/shorts/i98D4... only saw this quite recently but worth a watch
Iago from Shakespeare's Othello2A name is armor a man forges when the world refuses him a sword.
All Amort2There's an interesting account of the events that led to his expulsion from Prairie View A&M university in 1971 here: pvpantherproject.com/2023/02/sile... Wonder what life he'd have had if that hadn't happened?
Michael Planey1I often wondered if he had taken his name from “In the Heat of the Night” when Sidney Poitier said the memorable line “They call me Mister Tibbs!”
‘I don’t chase the dollar. I never did’: the astonishing hidden life of Mr T www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Gareth Clarke19Really enjoyed reading that, and happy to see he sounds as if he's the kind of person I always hoped he'd be. I pity the Netflix.
Old Hobbit🐸4Glad to see that some childhood heroes remain untainted!
Matthew 🦖3It's a shame that he seems to have been poorly treated by Netflix. He's a great guy.
Mark Freedman1Great stuff. Seems like one of the good guys.
T.K.26[Chorus] No fools, no suckas Be good to your mother No dummies, no punks I pity every last one One, one, one
Đ⟁🏳️4Did I meet him? Yes 🤚 and still remember the handshake 🤝 Mr T.
eke3it does seem like a lot of replies are in the vein of 'wow this is such a sweet interview' while my takeaway was more 'wow he seems to have spent 30 minutes furiously yelling about how much he hates the documentary he is supposed to be promoting'
Duncan Gill25-year-old me went to get his tonsils out wearing a Mr T. face-mask and plastic gold chains cos Mr T. wouldn’t be scared of no operation. And I drank my milk ‘cos he said so.
A note to publicists: Maybe hold back from saying how much your client loves what they're promoting unless you're absolutely sure. Meet the fabulous Mr T www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Mike4His autobiography is a great read. Also very clearly not ghost written www.goodreads.com/en/book/show...
randomname99.bsky.social2I loved Mr T as a kid. This interview gave a fascinating insight into the man. Brilliant work Simon, thank you
Steve Reynolds1It's such a good interview, and now I won't be watching the netflix show because it's upset Mr T.
John Bull61this is a helluvah read.
Linkara33People have asked me if I was going to watch the doc... which I wasn't because screw Netflix, but now I'm REALLY not going to watch it. XD God bless Mr. T.
Megan Fox24Damn, this is a good read. The documentary itself sounds trashy so probably skip, but damn. What a cool guy.
Chris Schilling10This is a *fantastic* interview.
waltydunlop10Tremendous interview, this. Several hours in which no fool is left unpitied, or a breath taken. Remarkable.
Original Chungus6This interview text includes a maybe unintentional reference to star magic jackson jr from the key and peele gremlins 2 sketch and for that alone isn't deserves a major award
Marianne Dhenin5a great read tbh, a joy
Mathew Kumar3Mr T defending @alexwinter.com's Freaked, as he should
Evan Hayles Gledhill3I'm so glad Mr T appears to be exactly who I thought he was when I loved him as a kid - this is a great little profile. Let's the man speak for himself. What a legend in his own lifetime 💐
Robb from 8/16/32bit3Now this is an excellent interview. Mr T was cool when I was a kid, and he's still cool today.
This is a long read - longer than usual for a Graun profile - and I can only assume they let it run on because Mr T is f***ing magnificent interview talent, and because Simon Hattenstone does such a bang-up job. Just wonderful, 💯 recommend. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Degenerate artist2Always liked Mr.T, he's using his powers for good. And I always watch his song on Mothers Day. youtu.be/RO6JiFztJdg?...
Adrian Cutts1Just wait until you see the Mr T WWE Hall of Fame induction from 2014: in New Orleans no less. 20 minutes of Mr T at his best. youtu.be/06diOh-s7N0...
Good Work Dept.1What does Mr T do that makes the interview sustain a long read—specificity, candour, or willingness to follow a tangent? That’s a useful lens for judging interview craft, not just celebrity.
Joey Perroni1Great stuff. I read all his quotes in a Mr T voice in my head.
If you are around my age (48) you know how ubiquitous Mr T was in the 80s. I’m not sure there is a comparable pop-culture figure today. Some fascinating stuff in this interview, especially how he shaped his persona and his religious faith.
John Herreid7I remember Mr. T action figures, posters, cereal, books, the cartoon, the A-Team, Rocky, his presence in PSAs about staying away from drugs and promoting literacy, etc. In the late 90s and early 2000s people treated him like a punchline but in the 80s he was huge.
Hester Pangs3my aunt's husband was a bouncer in college and used to work with him!
Thomas Jerome2He was quite possibly the most wholesome account on Twitter, I miss seeing him there
"I legally changed my name to Mr T later on, so the first word out of everyone’s mouth would be Mr."
MisterJayEm4As MrsJM observed, the parallels between the lives, values and fashion of Mr T and Dolly Parton are remarkable.
Punk Curmudgeon2Very interesting article. Ali became my hero because he stood up during the Vietnam war and said: ‘I have no quarrel with the Viet Cong, they never called me nigger, so why are we fighting the Viet Cong?’”
